Author: Peter Vincent

Peter held the position of Director of Nursing with ECH in Victor Harbor from July 1994 to March 2001. He was appointed as the first private sector CEO for a 'For Profit’ group in SA in 2002 until 2005.
In 2006, Peter formed Aged Care Management Australia, an independent national aged care consultancy that now employs 9 staff.

Back in April of this year ACMA hosted an open forum to discuss the issues surrounding the use of CCTV in residents rooms. Over the past few months, there has been more and more evidence of residents being injured / killed , in resident to resident incidents where there is often no visual record of the event. Resident to resident incidents are by far the most common issue that we have to manage. So it is timely that I re host this video of the open forum and stimulate more discussion. ACMA is hosting another forum in Perth in September to discuss the issues, ethics, rights and responsibilities with residents, providers and staff.

Peter held the position of Director of Nursing with ECH in Victor Harbor from July 1994 to March 2001. He was appointed as the first private sector CEO for a ‘For Profit’ group in SA in 2002 until 2005.

In 2006, Peter formed Aged Care Management Australia, an independent national aged care consultancy that now employs 9 staff.

ACMA continues to receive frequent requests for individuals and groups wishing to be come approved providers. There has been a surge in interest in gaining approval particularly in the Home Care sector. ACMA managing director Peter Vincent explains “we ( ACMA) have received calls from individuals and groups who want to become providers. Often we have requests for support following failed applications. Our experience has been that more than 50 percent of requests are made from groups who have not really researched or who do not have the business or financial capacity to become successful providers.” ACMA has developed a 1 day workshop where we work with the potential client to determine their level of understanding and capacity before committing to supporting the application. We have found that this is an effective way of ensuring the would be provider fully understands the responsibilities under the Act and that they have the required capacity. ACMA have a 100% success rate with clients achieving Approved Provider status when they have completed our workshop. For further details contact Fiona Duncan at fiona@acma.net.au

Peter held the position of Director of Nursing with ECH in Victor Harbor from July 1994 to March 2001. He was appointed as the first private sector CEO for a ‘For Profit’ group in SA in 2002 until 2005.

In 2006, Peter formed Aged Care Management Australia, an independent national aged care consultancy that now employs 9 staff.

Since August 2017 Aged Care Management Australia ( ACMA) has been engaged continuously in the management of sanctions and non-compliance ( to prevent sanctions) . Appointment as advisors and administrators on the Central Coast NSW, the ACT, Regional and metropolitan South Australia and Perth have all resulted in either the prevention of sanctions being applied or in the resolution of sanctions within the sanction period. These contracts involved a combination of residential and home care operations.

This follows on from our earlier work in the management of sanctions which started in 2010 in Wollongong NSW. ACMA was the first advisory service appointed to the management of sanctions in remote Indigenous Home Care programs in the Northern Territory.

ACMA’s team of skilled professional nurses supported by our new education and development team continue to provide meaningful support to providers across the country. Our role is to support and mentor staff at all levels and to build capacity in the workforce and restore confidence in the consumer group.

Peter held the position of Director of Nursing with ECH in Victor Harbor from July 1994 to March 2001. He was appointed as the first private sector CEO for a ‘For Profit’ group in SA in 2002 until 2005.

In 2006, Peter formed Aged Care Management Australia, an independent national aged care consultancy that now employs 9 staff.

ACMA’s next planned open forum discussing the Current Quality Framework and outcomes on the 12th of June 2019 has been cancelled until further notice due to ill health. The session will be run later in the year and will be advertised accordingly.

Peter held the position of Director of Nursing with ECH in Victor Harbor from July 1994 to March 2001. He was appointed as the first private sector CEO for a ‘For Profit’ group in SA in 2002 until 2005.

In 2006, Peter formed Aged Care Management Australia, an independent national aged care consultancy that now employs 9 staff.

40+ DON’s CNC’s CN’s, RN’s and EN’sspent a day listening to various presenters. ACMA talked about the practicalities of maintaining compliance and the challenges of the new standards. It was a great day for all concerned

Peter held the position of Director of Nursing with ECH in Victor Harbor from July 1994 to March 2001. He was appointed as the first private sector CEO for a ‘For Profit’ group in SA in 2002 until 2005.

In 2006, Peter formed Aged Care Management Australia, an independent national aged care consultancy that now employs 9 staff.

Last night ACMA was pleased to sponsor and host an open forum on Aged Care Staffing. I would like to thank Rebekha Sharkie MP Federal member for Mayo, Moira Noonan Chair of the SA Sector Australian College of Nursing, Dr Rodney JileK Principal Advisor Aged Care Advisory Services and Rob Bonner Director Operations and Strategy AMNF for their participation in the forum. It was a positive discussion with a great deal of common agreement on future of aged care labour force management and training.

I also thank my friend and colleague Ian Henschke Chief Advocate for National Seniors for moderating the session. While we had a small audience attend in person, we had over 100 watching on line with very positive feedback being received .

Peter held the position of Director of Nursing with ECH in Victor Harbor from July 1994 to March 2001. He was appointed as the first private sector CEO for a ‘For Profit’ group in SA in 2002 until 2005.

In 2006, Peter formed Aged Care Management Australia, an independent national aged care consultancy that now employs 9 staff.

Peter held the position of Director of Nursing with ECH in Victor Harbor from July 1994 to March 2001. He was appointed as the first private sector CEO for a ‘For Profit’ group in SA in 2002 until 2005.

In 2006, Peter formed Aged Care Management Australia, an independent national aged care consultancy that now employs 9 staff.

Peter held the position of Director of Nursing with ECH in Victor Harbor from July 1994 to March 2001. He was appointed as the first private sector CEO for a ‘For Profit’ group in SA in 2002 until 2005.

In 2006, Peter formed Aged Care Management Australia, an independent national aged care consultancy that now employs 9 staff.

The question of having mandated fixed staffing ratios for aged care facilities was first muted by Senator Derryn Hinch back in late 2016 following the outcomes and horrific stories coming from the Oakden facility in South Australia. Since then there has been significant debate, high level analysis by the productivity commission, political parties and of course industry and consumers. The Royal Commission into Aged Care will also no doubt cast a value statement across the issue. With the federal election just 3 weeks away, Aged Care Management Australia is hosting an open forum to discuss the issue openly, rationally, and constructively. Key industry players have been invited to have their input into the debate and the community is invited to have your say as well. For me, this is an issue of governance that is forged in a business model controlled by the commonwealth government. Aged Care providers have very limited control over their income streams, even more limited opportunity to be competitive in an open market. Without exception aged care providers and their representative peak bodies will tell you that there is insufficient funding to have mandated fixed staffing ratios, and still generate sufficient income to make a profit.
Personally I am not sure that is entirely true. The reason I say this is that there are many providers who will have already met what could be established as a minimum staffing level per head of residents, and are still generating a healthy operational surplus. My question is where does the subsidy funding get spent by other providers. Notwithstanding that, aged care is a commercial business and no provider operates to make a loss. So it is reasonable that any changes in staffing requirements must be affordable and it is inevitable that the $60 Million per day currently spent by Government is set to increase.
The question as to what is a suitable staffing ratio is an extremely complex one, and arm chair strategists and aged care experts are hugely divided on the answer. For mine, it is not a matter of having raw numbers per head of resident population. Though numbers will be part of the solution. Skill mix is the critical factor and having flexibility within a funding framework that can respond to changes in resident acquity is critical. Access to trained and untrained staff will become critical as the current workforce is about to experience a planned mass exodus as those RN’s and Carer’s who are reaching their 60’s are set to retire, leaving a significant void in numbers, skills, knowledge and experience.
The coming debate on the 13th of May will address the issues of mandated levels, plus meeting future training needs and the role of the Nurse Practitioner in aged care. Lets have the discussion

Peter held the position of Director of Nursing with ECH in Victor Harbor from July 1994 to March 2001. He was appointed as the first private sector CEO for a ‘For Profit’ group in SA in 2002 until 2005.

In 2006, Peter formed Aged Care Management Australia, an independent national aged care consultancy that now employs 9 staff.

A review of the history of compliance notices provides some interesting but not unexpected data.

Of all the outcomes failed these are the most frequently found non-compliant. The most important to note is outcome 1.6 Human resource management. We do not focus enough resources and training, planning and understanding into the skill sets required to provide appropriate care. This is identified in the failure of the other critical clinical outcomes of 2.4 Clinical care, 2.7 Medication management, 2.13 Behaviour management and lastly and by default, 1.8 information systems.

Peter held the position of Director of Nursing with ECH in Victor Harbor from July 1994 to March 2001. He was appointed as the first private sector CEO for a ‘For Profit’ group in SA in 2002 until 2005.

In 2006, Peter formed Aged Care Management Australia, an independent national aged care consultancy that now employs 9 staff.